Water Lily and Pebble
by Starlyne Zeviar
Summary: A short, sweet childhood friendship moment happened when Hinata and Gaara meet at the courtyard. ONE-SHOT


Water Lily and Pebble

Summary: A short, sweet childhood friendship moment happened when Hinata and Gaara meet at the courtyard. ONE-SHOT

* * *

The day was beautiful; flowers were blooming, farm animals were grazing the green grass, and children were playing outside with their newly imagined games created on a whine. Even the adults sat outside watching their children and remembering their childhood. The music lyric, _nothing but blue sky_, matches the scene outside perfectly.

On that day, Hinata Hyuga, stood next to her mother in a diplomatic meeting between their leaf village and the sand village. The brightly-colored, large flowers printed, kimono overshadowed her small, thin five year old body. Her hair was carefully pinned up by a new, blue ribbon; that kept bobbing whenever she nodded her head.

Her mother stood next to her, dressed in more complex matter. She looked like a doll taken out of the display case. In a sweet, soft voice, she looked at her daughter and spoke, "Hinata, your dad and I need to speak with someone for a while. Why don't you go out and play? I will get you once the meeting is over."

Hinata's eyes widen and the ribbon pinned up in her hair, bobbed as she nodded her head to her mother. Her mother patted her head and said, "good girl, now run off and play." She quickly ran out of the screen doors and put on her wooden sandals, stacked neatly by the doors, and she was soon off running to the courtyard.

* * *

The fresh air welcomed her, along with birds chipping. She recognized some of them from her study, she saw the magpie, robins, and blue birds. All the birds seen to gathering in the middle toward the pond; with curiosity she slowly walked toward the pond.

Sitting of the rock near the pond was a little boy, around her age. His red hair glitter when the sun hit it, his eyes were almost the same color of the water and he was dressed in traditional sand gears. He must be from the sand village! But...he doesn't look scary like how her cousin, Neji, described them in his story about the cruel, scary sand ninjas. He looked like a regular kid, feeding the birds with day old bread crumbs. She hid behind the bushes to observe him.

"Hello," she heard him say, she pushed herself deeper into the bushes. "I know you're behind the bushes." In her mind she kept saying to herself,_ if she can't see him then he can't see her_, and she couldn't see him with her eyes tightly closed in the bushes. She heard a ruffling sound, the leaves covering her head was pushed aside and she slowly opened her eyes. In a cheerful voice, she heard him say, "found you!" She looked up at him and saw him grinning cheek to cheek, very widely, like he won a prize. She gulped, her hiding place wasn't good enough, today.

He took her hands and pulled her out of her hiding space. They were now staring eyes to eyes, he was about the same height as she was. Looking at her, he said in a less intense voice, "Hi, I'm Gaara. I'm from the sand village. I'm five year old. Do you wanna be my friend?"

She looked at him wary and slowly replied, "Hello. My-my na-me is Hin-ata. I wil-l be you-r fri-end." She was taught to always answer a question politely from mother and to always try to answer, yes, if possible; she wasn't exactly sure she wanted to be friend with 'Gaara.' His smile became wider and he grabbed her hands. He pulled her toward the rocks he was sitting at and turned to her, "We're gonna be realllly good friend, right?" His question came out so fast, she couldn't help but to nod her head to his question without thinking.

Gaara's eyes widen as he heard her agreed to his finally made his first friend; his caretaker's advice worked: be friendly and people will agree to be your friend. It worked!

* * *

He slowly dipped his small hand into the pond and pulled out a pink, water lily. Holding the flower, with the roots still hanging from the bottom, in his palms he gave it to Hinata. "Because you're my new best friend...I found this for you," he waited for her to take it. She didn't take it, yet so he thrust it at her, she was now holding it. Looking at her, he proudly proclaimed, "It's in honor of our new friendship."

The word, surprise, was on her face when she heard him say that; her mouth made the "oh" sound. The gift looked a lot dirtier then the flowers inside her house, they didn't have the roots attached and she never pulled out the water lily from her pond. She put the flower near her nose and smelt it. Her nose twitched in disgust, it smelt stinky, so she quickly put it inside of her kimono's band. It was still close enough for him to see that she accepted his gift and far enough for her not to smell it.

One of the lesson she learned from her mother was to always return a gift, after receiving it. What could she give him? Her eyes landed on a shiny pebble by the pond, she picked it and handed it to him. "Th-thank for the gi-gift, This is-is for you," she said nervously hoping he like the gift. He took it and examined it before tucking it into his deep, pants pocket.

* * *

He motioned for her to sit next to him by the pond. She came over and pulled up her kimono and sat next to him. He gave her some bread crumbs to feed the birds and fishes; they both sat in silent.

"Hinata," he said, she broke out of her daydreaming and looked at him. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

She threw another handful of crumbs at the birds. "No," she replied. "I-I have a cou-ssin and mom, sa-say I-I'm go-ing to have a siss-ter soon."

"I already have a sister. You can have her if you want, she's bossy. I also have a brother, I like him but he play with his dolls too much," he replied before she could ask the same question. "Do you still want my sister?" She shook her head: no. "Oh, okay," he replied sadly.

"Why is your eyes almost white?" He stared at her intensely. She flinched when she felt his stares.

The kids at the playground called her a freak for having white eyes and refuse to play with her, it was sensitive question for her. "My-my whol-e fam-ly hav-have the same eyes," she replied softly, hoping he would tease her anymore about her eyes. Her older cousin wasn't here to defend her, like he usually did at the playground. He only made an "oh" sound and continued throwing more crumbs at the fishes that quickly gobbled them up as soon as it hits the water. She was glad, he didn't ask anymore question about her eyes.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set and Hinata yawn; it was almost time for her nap. Gaara stared at her wide mouth and asked. "When is your nap time?"

"Rea-real soon. Mom shou-should be pi-picking me up soon," she replied in a tired voice. She soon looked at him to see if he tired yet; he didn;t even looked tired at all, even though he had dark circles around his eyes.

"Oh," he replied softly. "Will you visit me at my house?" He stared at her and gave her a small smile.

She looked at his, " I-I don't kn-ow. I ne-eed to ask my-my mom an-and dad." He replied with a, "really?" He soon stuck out his pinky finger and said, "Promise?" She stared at him with hesitate before she slowly extended her pink finger and shook it; she didn't know if she could keep her promise, she never been out of her village.

His smile grew wider and she smiled back at him. They continue sitting on the rock and talking. She told him about her life, family, her likes and dislikes, that she was about to become a ninja soon and other stuffs about her life; he did the same. She learned that _Sunagakure_ was really nice during the night and thats the reason why he doesn't sleep too much, his dad was Kazekage of his village (whatever that was, she doesn't know), he was going to be a ninja soon, too, and other facts about himself. She already forgotten most of the stuff he told her already, it was too much information to absorb in thirty minutes.

The sun had almost completely set at that point. Her mother should be picking her up, in a few minutes. She was sad to leave her new friend behind, she enjoyed talking to him.

She heard someone say her name. It was her mother, "time to go Hinata." She turned to look at her new friend and waved her farewell to him. He waved back and stuck out his pinky finger to remind her of her promise, she stuck her out as well. Her mother held her hands and led back inside to put on her shoes and wait for her dad.

* * *

On the way home, she asked her mother a question. "When are we-we go-ing to the sa-sand vill-age?"

With a look of surprise on her mother's face, she replied, "I don't know. Maybe soon. Why?"

"I ma-made a friend," Hinata replied shyly.

They soon reached home. She rushed to her room and took out the water lily from her kimono and smelt it. It reminded her of him, just not as stinky. Her mother walked into the room as she was putting it into a vase of water and asked playfully, "What's that, Hinata?" She didn't know how to explain it to her mom. "Is that a water lily I spy?" She nodded her head. Her mother soon walked out of her room after bidding her good night.

The next morning, she removed the water lily from the vase and put it into her pond. Every time she went out, she would remember her new friend.

The water lily flourished in the pond and kept multiplying each time she went out to look at it.

She already missed him and wanted to visit him.

* * *

A few months later, her mother told her that they were going to the sand village for a meeting and that she could come along. She was excited to keep her pinky promise and to visit him again.

She was going to come prepare with a bigger bag of pebbles, a bunch of water lily, and more bread crumbs to give him. She even have some cool ninja move she couldn't wait to show off to her friend at his village.

She was looking forward to that day.

* * *

_A/N: Hopefully you guys enjoyed this little one-shot. Please review, so, I know what you thought about it._

_ I honestly enjoy reading reviews. ^^_


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